A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, Justin Smoak was a can’t-miss MLB prospect that projected to be a cleanup hitter managers built their rosters around.
That hasn’t panned out, but to his credit, Smoak has managed to stay in the league and, as the Blue Jays have seen themselves in recent years, late-blooming power bats are not an unknown phenomenon.
In his second season with the Blue Jays, Smoak’s batted ball profile normalized after a rather fortunate debut in 2015. Regardless, with uncertainty at the 1B/DH position going forward, the Blue Jays chose to lock up Smoak for at least two seasons with an extension in July.